Nylon or umhw?

Thus is for a street driven car. Use is for leaf spring bushings. Which one and why?

In reply to Dusterbd13:

You might check some of the aftermarket supplier sites, even if they are not for your particular car, to see what materials they are using.

personally id do a uhmw with an aluminum sleeve.

I wouldn't use PE for a bushing.

What is pe?

Polyethylene. Which is what UHMW is a type of.

Ok, why? It seems denser and more pliable than nylon.

Here is a discussion I found about why or why not to use it: http://www.specialstage.com/forums/showthread.php?7719-UHMW-poly-for-bushings

Most I see are Delrin, is that an option?

Lubricant impregnated nylon is essentially a solid, won't deflect or twist - and it doesn't squeak. Easy to machine as well if you are making your own. I've done a few e36 trailing arms, control arms and sway mounts with it. Results were excellent for racing. Perhaps a tad harsh for driving bad roads daily though.

If it won't deflect, isn't it a poor choice for something like a leaf spring bushig that moves is multiple planes?

Something has to give and it seems like in this case it would be the shackles and/or frame

The rear of the spring is on a slider. This is the location in question. Front bushings will stay rubber for articulation purposes. I'm finding that rubber and poly both bind the movement of the slider, so that's why I'm exploring nylon or umhw.

And I have now read more about the different types of material, and have decided on nylon.

Now, where to find a 1/2 id 1 inch od 6 inch long piece?

In reply to Dusterbd13:

AIN Plastics eBay

McMaster-Carr offers both materials

When designing parts in Nylons, pay close attention to tolerances for fit. Nylon has the highest water absorbtion of any plastic, and I've had to trouble shoot some very complex problems that disappeared after the parts were allowed to dry a few days.

Id use delrin over nylon for bushings for sure. And uhmw over delrin.

There was a huge thread on cornercarvers with participants much smarter than myself going on at length about how and why UHMW is superior to Delrin.

That said EVERY UHMW suspension bushing I have ever made was worn out within weeks where Delrin lasted years. Any weight holding application deformed within days. These were replacements for factory control arm, shock mount ect bushings.

Also UHMW sucks to machine while Delrin is an absolute joy.

These days I like fresh new rubber.

Assuming you want a roughly cylindryical bushing, why not machine the bushings from a "blank" urethane cylinder? You can buy those from McMaster-Carr etc. and I think it's an even better material than Delrin (which is a bit brittle in comparison, it tends to crack when forced to flex).

Well, I'm going to try to machine my own delrin. Got a 6 inch stick off ebay for 6 bucks shipped.

Figure I can do it on my wood lathe.

I would use a POM ( like a Delrin or Hostaform) as it has good deflection, great lubricity, and does not have water absorbtion issues.

I had some bushings made from Acetal POM-h (delrin) a few years back with stainless inserts (304, I think?). I drew up the dimensions on a piece of printer paper and brought a case of beer to a friend with a lathe. He had them turned out in no time flat.

I worked out the math and it came out to just over $2 per bushing set in materials. (ie: Upper control arm has 3ea lefts and 3ea rights, and so on) and I had about 50 bushings made. I left about a 1-2mm gap between the left and right halves for grease and fit a zirc fitting for servicing.

Unfortunately I sold the parts they were supposed to go to long before I ever got to try them out, BUT the lathe operator did say the delrin was super easy to work with. (sorry, that's all I got)